Episode #181 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and I as we discuss the latest NBA 2K17 news, provide a round-up of some recent retro modding releases, and reflect on some more success in 2K Pro-Am.

On this week’s show…

A European eSports tournament for NBA 2K17 is tipping off next weekend. We’re not eligible ourselves, and we’re also more casual in our approach to online gaming besides, but it’s cool to see nevertheless.

The Nintendo Switch (codenamed Nintendo NX) has been revealed, and it seems it will have much stronger third party support, including a port of NBA 2K17. Will we be picking it up?

As our NBA 2K17 modding community continues to do some great work, we also want to recognise the efforts several users have been making in keeping older games up to date. We quickly round up some of the recent releases for older NBA Live and NBA 2K titles.

In Our Week in Basketball Gaming: a couple of really fun sessions of 2K Pro-Am with more clutch wins, and a lengthy winning streak in MyCAREER.

Some interesting rumours are making the rounds about LaMarcus Aldridge possibly being traded by the San Antonio Spurs.

Elton Brand has reportedly changed his mind about playing one more season, and will be calling it a career. One of us wishes he could’ve spent more time in Chicago.

We wrap up Episode #181 of the NLSC Podcast with some quick thoughts on the epic finale of the 2016 WNBA Finals between the Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx.

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

I’m counting down another Top 5 for NBA 2K17 this week, as I’m taking a look at what I feel are the five best features in 2K Pro-Am in this year’s game. Aside from MyCAREER, 2K Pro-Am has been my mode of choice so far. I’ve enjoyed getting online with the guys to play a few games each week, and although we’ve had some tough sessions, we’ve also enjoyed some very satisfying wins as well. To that end, you can expect us to continue sharing stories of what’s going on with the NLSC squad over the next several months, both in the Forum and on the Podcast.

I will say that I’m not a fan of some of the changes that have been made to 2K Pro-Am this year. In particular, forcing teams to level up before they can make significant branding changes and import custom logos feels like a big mistake. Information on how the different tiers work is also difficult to come by, and 2K themselves have not been particularly forthcoming with those details. All the same, I am enjoying my time with 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K17 – for the most part – and these five features in particular are going a long way in enhancing the experience.

It’s been a while since we’ve put out a call for topic suggestions and mailbag questions for the NLSC Podcast. However, since there hasn’t been a lot of news this week, we do have some room on the docket. As such, if there’s anything you’d like to hear us talk about in Episode #181 of the Podcast, please let us know.

Just a reminder, while we will consider any and all suggestions, we would prefer to keep the show centred on our core content and related topics. That means NBA Live, NBA 2K, and basketball gaming in general, as well as modding, the real NBA, and community-related topics.

With that being said…is there anything in particular you’d like to hear us talk about this week? If so, let us know in the comments section below, or post your suggestions in this thread in the Forum. You can also hit us up with any suggestions via our Facebook and Twitter; be sure to connect with us there, if you haven’t already.

As always, a big thank you to everyone who continues to tune into the NLSC Podcast every week. We enjoy recording the shows, so it’s great to know that people are listening in! If you haven’t caught Episode #180 yet, you can tune in here. Don’t forget that you can also subscribe to the NLSC Podcast on iTunes, as well as find us on Stitcher if you’d like to listen to the shows on your mobile or tablet devices.

On the heels of yesterday’s Wayback Wednesday piece about Dynasty Cutscenes, and ahead of my next retrospective, we have a new file addition for NBA Live 2004 PC. GNGGRIZZ27 has released a new version of his 2017 season court pack for the game, which you can download at the link below.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content.

The next game that I’ll be looking back on as part of our ongoing (and belated) 20th Anniversary of NBA Live celebrations is NBA Live 2004. It’s one of my all-time favourite games in the series, and a title that I know a lot of other long-time basketball gamers also remember fondly. As I’ll discuss in my forthcoming retrospective, NBA Live 2004 did a great job in correcting course after NBA Live 2003 was skewed too much towards a casual style, with more realistic gameplay and the inclusion of sliders for the first time in the NBA Live series.

If there’s one thing that most people remember about NBA Live 2004 though, it’s the cutscenes in the newly rebranded Dynasty Mode. Whereas reactions to the “Courtside Comedy” cutscenes in NBA Live 2003 were mixed at best, it seemed like most of us felt that the Dynasty Cutscenes really added to the atmosphere, bringing life to events that were taking place in the menus. Given that it’s such a memorable part of the game, I thought I’d talk a little bit about it, ahead of my full NBA Live 2004 retrospective.

We have a couple of new file additions for NBA Live 07 today, including a fictional 2017 season jersey update for the Sacramento Kings, and a pack of portraits for the Class of 2016 rookies. The jerseys are also compatible with NBA Live 08, while the portraits can be used for NBA Live 2005, NBA Live 06, and NBA Live 08. Check out both releases at the links below!

I missed posting a bulletin over the weekend, but the Xbox One version of NBA 2K17 has now received Patch 1.04. As always, the update will come through automatically as long as your console is connected to the Internet.

The Xbox One patch contains the same fixes as the updates for the PC and PlayStation 4 versions of NBA 2K17, mainly addressing some situational bugs. If you need a refresher on the notes for Patch 1.04, you can check them out below, as well as here in the NLSC Wiki.

If you have any impressions of Patch 1.04 that you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comments section below, as well as in this thread in the NBA 2K17 section of the Forum. We also invite you to post any bug reports here, and general feedback on gameplay and game modes here. Additionally, we’ll be opening up our official NBA 2K18 Wishlist thread very soon, so stay tuned.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games.

Since the release of NBA 2K17, an issue that’s come up a couple of times on the NLSC Podcast is the general reduction in the amount of Virtual Currency that can be earned in a single game. Having spent most of my time so far playing MyCAREER and 2K Pro-Am, this is certainly a problem that I’m very familiar with. Although the MyNBA2K17 app offers additional opportunities to earn Virtual Currency, it doesn’t do much to contribute towards the cost of the various in-game items that are purchased with VC.

We’re not the only ones complaining about Virtual Currency in NBA 2K17, either. A petition is currently circulating in an effort to get Visual Concepts to re-work or eliminate the VC system in NBA 2K. It’s highly unlikely that we’ll see the complete removal of Virtual Currency in future iterations of NBA 2K, but given the issues with VC in this year’s game, I’d definitely agree that some changes need to be made. While I do have a lot of good things to say about NBA 2K17, the problems with Virtual Currency absolutely need to be highlighted.

We’re tipping off the week with a few new file additions for NBA 2K17 PC. Today’s releases include updates for the Detroit Pistons’ jerseys and New York Knicks’ arena, and a new face and headshape for my all-time favourite player, Michael Jordan. Check them all out at the links below.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

One of my resolutions for NBA 2K17 was to finally get stuck into a MyLEAGUE game. I’m still keen to do that, but I’m thinking that I might wait until the opening night rosters are pushed through. In the meantime, I’ve been playing MyCAREER with an enthusiasm I haven’t had for the mode since NBA 2K13. I’m partly playing it so that I can boost my MyPLAYER for 2K Pro-Am, but I am finding myself really enjoying the single player experience as well. It’s actually getting to the point where I want to get some closure on MyCAREER before I launch into the MyLEAGUE experience in NBA 2K17.

Over the next few editions of The Friday Five, I’m planning on posting some top five countdowns for various aspects of NBA 2K17. Since I’ve been hooked on MyCAREER, I’ve decided that that’s where I’ll begin. Needless to say, not everything is perfect, and I still have my criticisms, but I feel that NBA 2K17’s MyCAREER is the best incarnation of the mode since the game adopted the story-driven approach back in NBA 2K14. Without any further ado, here are my top five features in this year’s MyCAREER mode.

Episode #180 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and I as we discuss the latest official updates for NBA 2K17, an epic game of 2K Pro-Am, a new twist in the Chris Bosh saga, and more.

On this week’s show…

Patch 1.04 has come through for the PC and PlayStation 4 versions of NBA 2K17. We break down the update, noting the difference in the size of the patches between platforms, and provide some impressions.

We spotlight some recent NBA 2K17 modding projects, including one that’s been receiving some mainstream gaming press. As always, our community is doing some outstanding work!

Estimates of the Week 1 sales of NBA 2K17 are lower than the figures for NBA 2K16. Is it just regression to the mean, or is the compressed preview season to blame?

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

As it turns out, we didn’t have to wait very long to see Patch 1.04 come through for the PC version of NBA 2K17. The patch is now available, and will be downloaded automatically through Steam, as long as your PC is connected to the Internet.

The PC patch is only 69 MB in size, compared to the 7 GB update that was pushed through on PlayStation 4. However, according to the release notes posted on Steam, it contains all of the same fixes as the PS4 patch. It doesn’t appear that any PC-specific fixes have been made in the latest update.

There’s still no concrete release date for the Xbox One patch, but it is expected to be pushed through soon. Referring back to Patch 1.03 for NBA 2K17, the X1 patch came through about a week after the PS4 version received the update, so with any luck, it won’t be too much longer this time either. As we’ve noted before, it all comes down to Microsoft’s approval process.

If you’d like to share any impressions of Patch 1.04 on PC or PlayStation 4, feel free to post them in the comments section below, as well as in this thread in the NBA 2K17 section of the Forum. Don’t forget that we also have a Bug Reports thread, as well as a thread for general feedback.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content.

On this day in 1979, NBA history was made on opening night. In a 114-106 victory over the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics’ Chris Ford made the very first three-pointer in league history with 3:48 remaining in the first quarter. In that same game, the legendary Larry Bird made his professional debut, scoring 14 points to go along with ten rebounds and five assists. Elsewhere, Bird’s rival Magic Johnson also made his NBA debut, scoring 26 points and enjoying a 103-102 victory over the San Diego Clippers, courtesy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s gamewinning skyhook.

The arrival of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, along with the debut of Michael Jordan five years later, propelled the NBA into a new golden age. All three legends appeared on separate covers for NBA 2K12, but since I’ve already talked about NBA’s Greatest in a previous Wayback Wednesday feature, I thought I’d do something a little different to mark the occasion. Using HAWK23’s amazing Ultimate Base Roster, I replayed the NBA debuts of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird using NBA 2K14 PC. Could I replicate their numbers and success?